In part 2 of The Mix's essential guide to programming drums, Nigel Lord explains how a small injection of exotic percussion sounds can supercharge an already intense rhythmic vibe....

One of the reasons I've been a long-standing user of Steinberg's range of software sequencers is their unflagging support for the concept of drum editing as an separate process front keyboard or score editing facilities. From Pro24 to Cubase for the ST, and now Cubase Audio for the Mac, Steinberg are one of the very few companies to have recognised the need for a different approach when it comes to rhythm programming, and to continue to include a separate drum edit page for this purpose. So it's a shame that they and other manufacturers haven't also recognised the need for an editing process more suited to working with samples, but that's another can of worms...

Anyone who's struggled with the key, list or score editing pages of other rhythm programs, will understand why I'm such an advocate of drum editors on software sequencers. More than any other aspect of musical composition, rhythm programming is about trial and error. You simply cannot predict how a certain instrument will sit in a particular pattern, neither can you account for nuances of feel which stem from pulling back individual notes or pushing them ahead of the beat. As I mentioned last month, many rhythms also tend to become 'instrument specific': Change one of the sounds, and the whole thing can start to unravel.

The solution to many of these problems is a drum-edit facility and a comprehensive drum-mapping system optimised for use with your particular set-up. The drum map, in case you're not familiar with the term, is simply a means of specifying a group of percussion voices and configuring them so that MIDI In notes trigger the desired MIDI Out notes, and the layout of instruments on screen matches those in your drum machine and sound modules. The necessity for this arises from the fact that percussion voices are invariably assigned to individual notes - and given their own MIDI note number - rather than spread across the octaves and assigned to one of the sixteen MIDI channels, as with conventional voices.

On the sequencers that do feature drum mapping facilities, it is normally possible to load and save the drum map as a separate entity. This means that pre-configured drum maps may be used for many of the most popular drum machines of the past few years - and, of course, for General MIDI, the mapping for which tends to be adopted even on instruments which aren't strictly GM in operation.

If you are using a sequencer that supports drum mapping, the benefits of spending a little time optimising the setup to suit your system cannot be overstated. Most synth and sound modules contain drum voices these days, and without pretending you could include them all (even with a drum map as extensive as that on Cubase), it should be possible to assign all your favourite and most used instruments to one or more drum maps, for instant access within your drum edit page.

If nothing else, this month's examples stand as testament to what can be achieved when sitting down in front of a blank drum edit grid and a well- specified drum map.


Experience gained when compiling the original On The Beat series taught me not to be too specific when describing patterns. Programming drum patterns can be quite time consuming, and there's no point putting people off by categorising things unnecessarily. In any case, as I hope to showas the series progresses, rhythm is far more interchangeable than is often appreciated. Choice of instrument and tempo are just two of the factors affecting our perception of a particular rhythmic style, and these, of course, are quickly changed in a modern system.

The conventions established in last month's article are still applicable - the only real difference is that I've halved the screen resolution to reflect the longer length of this month's examples; two bars now take up the same space as a single bar - but this should have no bearing on the way the patterns are programmed.

In case you missed the introductory article, we've reprinted the key which relates to velocity levels. Study this and use it when entering note data, but remember, it represents only four velocity levels. You must expect to spend a little time tweaking individual notes, and indeed deciding on an overall level for each of the instruments - I have no means of adjusting the master level controls of each of your sound modules, or of determining your personal preference for individual instrument levels.

Kicking things off this month, Pattern 1 is an excellent example of how a hard, uncompromising groove need sacrifice none of its power by taking onboard a little more rhythmic interest. That interest is centered around the use of instruments such as the ride bell, splash cymbal and vibra-slap, which make various appearances throughout the pattern.

As you'll hear, it's divided into four 4-bar sections, each raising the profile of the pattern a little higher and giving it greater momentum. Clearly there is no need to leave it in its present form; it would be best split up into its four sections with each used at musically appropriate points throughout a song.

The same is true of Pattern 2 which also adopts a four-by-four bar structure - this time in a rather busier rhythm which, despite the fact it fills most of the available space, has a vaguely techno/industrial feel to it, due largely to the choice of instruments. Change these and who knows what it might end up as.

Although there's plenty going on, there's nothing here to tax the skills of even the novice programmer; it's possible to adopt a slow, methodical approach to entering any pattern data - only when this is done is there a need to get a little more creative.

And speaking of getting creative, Pattern 3 was an attempt by me to try and do something creative with some of the sound effects included on my Roland Sound Canvas. I'd always believed that the collection of car starts, foot steps and screams were nothing more than a waste of precious ROM, until I realised that many of the sounds had real rhythmic potential if tailored to the right context.

Not all the sounds in this pattern emanate from the Sound Canvas, but most of the interesting ones do - as you'll hear on the CD. The exceptions are the RezoHi and RezoLo sounds which, though hardly percussive at all, do provide something of a sequencer-like feel to the pattern, and give it some real interest during the second half. These are, of course, optional (as is the thunder sound), but given the right level in the mix - ie, low - I believe they transcend the gimmicky, and really do add something to the pattern.

Like last month, the sounds featured on this month's Re:Mix are in the order they are listed in the patterns, and even where they are repeated (such as the 808 hi-hats in patterns 1 and 2) are included in both sets to avoid confusion.

If you're using a sampler, you'll have to ensure that it is set up to play each sound for its entire duration. Where a sound ends is often as important, rhythmically, as where it begins, and this will also have to be taken into consideration when changing the tempo significantly: You might find yourself having to compensate through timestretching, if this is an option on your machine.

For those without the benefit of samplers, try and chose your sounds to match those on CD as closely as possible. Once up and running, you can experiment to your heart's content, but you'll probably find you need to stick pretty close to original sounds to begin with if you are to make rhythmic sense of the patterns, particularly the last one.

(Click image for higher resolution version)

(Click image for higher resolution version)

(Click image for higher resolution version)

(Click image for higher resolution version)

You've got the patterns - now you just need the sounds. For that perfect beat, use Nigel's preferred percussion samples off the RE:MIX CD.

- On The Beat samples